Vic Bhagat is the Chief Information Officer for GE Corporate Information Services. Vic’s 12+ years with GE spans many businesses and various responsibilities – his career with GE started at GE Appliances in 1994 as Pricing Manager in Louisville, KY. The following year, he was appointed Sales Force Automation leader for GE Appliances’ worldwide sales force. In 1996, he took on the role of CIO for GE Corporate Audit Staff driving IM Controllership in GE. In December 1998, he was appointed Vice President & CIO for CNBC to re-engineer on-air data presentation. In 2000, he became the Chief Information Security Officer for GE, leading all information security initiatives & launched Session i’s. In January 2002, Vic assumed a global role as the CIO for India & SE Asia based out of New Delhi, India. In early 2005 Vic was asked to help define the new strategy for GE’s Global Infrastructure Services and establish business integration plans. In Nov. 2005, Vic assumed his current position at GE Corporate. Vic’s previous work experience includes positions as a Information Management Consultant with the firm of Keane Inc. and Director - Information Technology for Paradigm Insurance Company. He has also worked for Humana Inc. & Colgate Palmolive. Vic holds a degree in Information Management & Marketing from the University of Louisville and a degree in Physics & Mathematics from St. John’s University, India. Vic currently resides with his wife & son in Cincinnati, OH. He enjoys badminton, squash, swimming & racquetball.

Larry Biagini is Chief Technology Officer of General Electric and Chief Information Officer of Corporate Information Services, responsible for GE company-wide applications and services. After receiving a Bachelor Degree in Accounting from Fairfield University, in 1980 Larry joined a programmer development program at Olin Chemical working in the Financial Systems Area. In 1983 he joined Emery Air Freight as a programmer working in freight and customer systems. From there he moved into the manager of technical services role. Prior to leaving Emery he was the VP of international applications and technologies. Larry joined GE in 1989, first in its consulting group, and subsequently GE Capital. At GE Capital Fleet Services he had responsibility for service applications and ultimately was named CTO. As CTO, he was responsible for all architecture, technology and operations globally, concentrating on acquisitions and integrations. In 1995 Larry joined GE Aircraft Engines as CTO, responsible for operations, application architecture and technology direction. He also led the information technology portion of the Aircraft Engines acquisition team. In 1998 Larry assumed his current role as Chief Technology Officer of General Electric, responsible for driving technology direction across the enterprise. In 2001 he also assumed the responsibility of Chief Information Officer for Corporate Information Services, responsible for company wide applications and shared technology services.

Rich Dino is Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Business Partnering and External Alliances and the Northeast Utilities Scholar in Technological Entrepreneurship at the University of Connecticut School of Business. His position includes the additional leadership responsibilities for Business Placement and Career Services, School-wide Marketing and the Business School's Information Technology Services Group. A member of the management faculty, he also serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Developing Entrepreneurial Advantage (IDEA). IDEA houses the Business School's self-funded, award-winning entrepreneurship initiatives: the Family Business Program (serves as Chair), the Connecticut Small Business Development Center; the Wolff Program in Entrepreneurship; the Northeast Utilities Fund for Enterprise Development; the Nutmeg Institute; the Small Business Institute; and the Entrepreneur Internship Program. Rich is co-founder/co-developer of edgelab, the unprecedented, education/corporate e-Business partnership called the largest corporate investment ever ($11 Million) in the university. Before joining the University of Connecticut in 1995, Rich spent more than two decades in the business world, working for several firms such as Eastman Kodak, Corning, Inc. and Xerox. In addition, he has extensive experience as an entrepreneur having started four enterprises of his own. He earned his B.S. at the Pennsylvania State University (1972, with High Distinction), and his M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1977) in economics at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Paulo B. Goes is a Professor of Operations and Information Management and a Gladstein Professor of Information Technology and Innovation. A former Associate Director of the Connecticut Information Technology Institute, he played a fundamental role in the conceptualization and implementation of edgelab. He is director of the endowed Treibick Electronic Commerce Initiative (TECI) and from 1996 to 1999 he was the Technology Director of UConn’s School of Business. He has been teaching information technology courses for UConn since 1990 and has received several teaching awards. His research interests include Internet technologies and electronic commerce, design and evaluation of models for e-business, online auctions, database recovery/security, computer networking and technology infrastructure.

Ram D. Gopal is a GE Endowed Professor of Business and Associate Professor of Operations and Information Management in the School of Business, University of Connecticut. He currently serves as the Ph.D. director for the department. His current research interests include economics of information systems management, data security, economic and ethical issues relating to intellectual property rights, and multimedia applications. His research has appeared in Management Science, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Information Systems Research, Communications of the ACM, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and other journals and conference proceedings. He is the recipient of the School of Business Undergraduate teaching award in 2002 and the School of Business Graduate teaching award in 2003.

Rusty Irving is the Global Technology Leader of the Information and Decision Technology Labs at GE Global Research. This organization consists of six labs located in the U.S. and India. This group comprises over 100 scientists and engineers who develop automated and decision support systems for all GE businesses. These systems range from monitoring and diagnostics of medical imaging equipment, aircraft engines, and locomotives to RFID tagging of mobile assets to digitally underwriting insurance policies. Rusty attended Siena College and graduated with a B.S. Degree in Computer Science in 1985. Upon graduation he entered the Software Technology Training Program at GE Corporate Research and Development in Schenectady, New York. In 1988 Rusty graduated from that program and also received his Masters Degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He transferred to the GE Advanced Technology Labs of GE Aerospace in Moorestown, New Jersey where he was an Artificial Intelligence Systems Engineer. In 1990 he went back to GE CRD and joined the Information Systems Lab as a Computer Scientist. In 1996 he became the first coordinator of the Information Technology Training Program. In 1997 Rusty became a Master Black Belt focusing on Commercial Quality. In 1998 he was a founding member of the GE CRD Remote Services Delivery Center of Excellence. He also took the position of Manager of the Service Informatics Program. In 2000 Rusty took his current position.

Dr. James R. Marsden is a Professor and Head of the Department of Operations and Information Management who joined UConn in 1993. He was part of a three-person team that conceptualized, initiated and oversaw the development of the Connecticut Information Technology Institute and is currently serving as its Executive Director. He also developed and implemented the Treibick Electronic Commerce Initiative. Dr. Marsden also serves as Director of the OPIM/SBA MIS Research Lab and served for several years as a member of the Advisory Board and Steering Committee of CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research). He currently serves on the edgelab Steering Committee which selects and resources projects and oversees operations. Dr. Marsden is a two-time winner of the Chancellor's Award for IT Excellence and a co-winner of the Team Connecticut Program Award from the Office of Economic Development.

Joseph E. Parsons is President, North America Equity Holdings of GE Real Estate. He is responsible for the wholly owned real estate Operating Platforms, the Strategic Ventures joint venture partnerships, and the Leveraged Equity investing business at GE Real Estate, which collectively own and operate in excess of $12 Billion of real estate investments. Prior roles at GE Capital include serving as President and CEO of GE Equity, where he managed GE's $5+ billion portfolio of global private equity investments. Before GE Equity, he was President and CEO, e-Business, of GE Capital, where he led GE Capital's efforts to transform and enhance its businesses through technology. Before that he was Vice President and Manager, Business Development, in the Office of the CEO, where he was responsible for the Corporate Business Development function and managing GE Capital's North American merger and acquisition activities. Prior experiences included Managing Director, Corporate Finance, KPMG; President and COO, Sovereign National Management; and Vice President, Merrill Lynch Realty, Merrill Lynch & Co. Parsons received his MBA from the University of Arkansas in 1982, and his B.S. in Finance from the University of Connecticut in 1979.

Chris Perretta is the Chief Information Officer for GE Commercial Finance. He oversees 750 GE professionals who plan, design, build and operate the automated business solutions and related infrastructure for the largest GE business. Prior to his current position, Mr. Perretta was Chief Information Officer for GE Card Services and Chief Technology Officer for GE Capital. Mr. Perretta joined GE Capital in 1996 following thirteen years with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in New York, France and the UK consultancy practices. His tenure there included stints in the manufacturing, software technology and financial services sectors. Previously, he was as an Electrical Engineer with GE's Aerospace Division inSyracuse, New York. He is a graduate of the GE Edison Engineering Program. Mr. Perretta has a Bachelors of Engineering Science degree from The Johns Hopkins University (1979) and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Syracuse University (1981). He has also done two years of doctoral work in Medical Engineering at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences, Technology and Management.